The Supreme Court Bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna Today (Jan 15) urged the Centre to respond to a PIL seeking immediate implementation of a caller name display service (CNAP) to combat rising cybercrime and spam calls. Highlighting financial losses and stress faced by citizens, the PIL underscores the lack of progress on CNAP’s rollout, despite its potential as a robust solution. Telecom groups, however, oppose mandatory implementation, citing privacy concerns and technical limitations.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked the central government to respond to a petition requesting the quick introduction of a caller name display service to address the growing problem of cybercrime and unwanted calls.
During the hearing of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna remarked,
“Yes, we understand the problem is there. Let Centre respond.”
The PIL was filed by Gowrishankar S, a Bengaluru-based citizen, highlighting the rising threat of cybercrimes and spam calls. The petition explains how these issues are causing significant harm to individuals, banks, and law enforcement agencies.
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The petition mentions that the Centre’s Department of Telecommunications and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have acknowledged the Calling Name Presentation Service (CNAP) as a potential solution to combat cybercrime.
However, there is no specific plan or timeline for its implementation in the country.
“Despite the pressing nature of this issue, lack of a clear implementation timeline and the progress of CNAP during the last 2.5 years has led to the filing of this PIL seeking immediate action,”
-states Gowrishankar’s petition. A finance professional aged 43, Gowrishankar also runs an NGO focused on increasing public awareness of social issues.
The petition further emphasizes the alarming increase in cybercrimes in India, which has resulted in significant financial losses and mental stress for victims.
CNAP is a feature that displays the caller’s name on the recipient’s phone screen. While many people currently rely on apps like Truecaller for identifying unknown callers, CNAP would provide the caller’s name directly through the telecom system.
However, the implementation of CNAP has faced resistance from certain telecom industry groups.
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When TRAI initiated a consultation process on CNAP, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI)—representing major telecom providers like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea—opposed making it mandatory.
COAI argued that not all mobile devices support such features and raised concerns about protecting the privacy and confidentiality of user information.
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